Treasury to investigate veracity of allegations against Brown

Treasury said it would investigate the veracity of allegations that irregular deposits were made into the bank account of its Chief Procurement Officer, Kenneth Brown.

The allegations were made by the Mzwanele Manyi Foundation which asked the HAWKS to investigate monies ranging from between R50 000 and R200 000 which were deposited in Brown’s bank account.

“National Treasury will institute a process to determine the veracity of these allegations with a view to take appropriate steps. However, such process requires that those in possession of relevant information provide it. In this regard, the National Treasury has written to Mzwanele Manyi and his Decolonization Foundation as well as Lt General Ntlemeza (Head of Hawks) to get the purported dossier that supports these allegations,” a statement read.

In a statement that seemingly questioned Manyi’s motives, Treasury said it hoped “this is not a deliberate attempt to sow seeds of suspicion on the integrity of the National Treasury, and casting aspersion on the character of Mr Brown who has a longstanding record of serving the public service with great dedication”.

Treasury’s response doesnt address questions asked by UnCensored on Monday.
(1) Does Mr Brown know of such deposits and if so, who paid them and for what?

(2) Did Treasury and Minister Gordhan know and approve these external payments? (Mr Brown being a salaried person would have had to declare these external payments and they would have had to be approved by Gordhan).

(3) Mr Manyi says the deposits are large and would therefore have necessitated Mr Brown to go on leave in order to perform whatever services for which the deposits were made. Did such leave take place?

“National Treasury is committed to act on any forms of impropriety at all levels within its ranks by taking preventive action against corruption and ensuring a clean procurement system in government,,” the statement added.